Do Good. Eat More Stroopies.
By Kylie Stoltzfus
You can’t miss Lancaster Sweet Shoppe. If you walk by their N. Duke Street café on a summer day, you’ll be hit by a wave of sweet cinnamon air wafting out and onto the street. Step inside and you’ll find rows of artisanal chocolate candies, ice cream, and women making fresh Stroopies—the origin of the delicious scent that brought you inside in the first place. And alongside each sweet treat, you’ll learn about the deeper mission at the core of the business.
Since its founding in 2008 by Ed McManness and Dan Perryman, Stroopies, Inc. has remained steadfast in its commitment to providing meaningful employment to resettled refugees. The demand for their signature cinnamon waffle cookies – known as stroopwafels – proves that an impactful business model can begin with something simple, as long as it’s backed up with heart. Jennie and Jonathan Groff became owners of Stroopies in 2010 and, in the years since, the couple has grown a thriving social enterprise, designing Stroopies as a for-profit business with a social mission ingrained in every fiber of their work.
After many years borrowing space to make Stoopies from their family’s candy shop at Groff’s Candies, Jonathan and Jennie opened Lancaster Sweet Shoppe in 2016 as a production space and storefront where the local community could buy chocolate candies and stock up on Stroopies, as well as enjoy small-batch ice cream and hot drinks in the courtyard patio.
“The Lancaster community's been a beautiful place to launch this,” Jennie Groff says. “Basically, the profits of the business go into funding the programming we're doing, so it's fully funded by the engine of the business, which is pretty exciting.”
When a woman is hired at Stroopies, she receives English class and life coaching as part of her paid work day. She is also brought into a tight-knit community of coworkers who live life together, share lunch daily around a common table, and work alongside one another to produce Stroopies, ice cream, and coffee. These delicious products are sold to customers in Lancaster and far beyond through wholesale partnerships.
“Part [of] the community building and new family building happens over the lunchtime, where we share what we bring,” Groff says. “That was really shaped by the women.”
Stroopies employs women resettled from countries like Myanmar, Congo, Bhutan, Eritrea, Sudan, and Syria. Each week, the team makes approximately 10,000 Stroopies.
“The powerful engine of a business [produces] in and out of season with a lot of hard work that goes into it. But that engine can really provide for a lot of families,” Groff says. “As a business leader, it's up to us, what we are going to do with these profits and these things that this engine is producing.”
In addition to the delicious treats available at Lancaster Sweet Shoppe, you can find a wall of artwork and handcrafted gifts from local makers, many of whom are refugees, as well. 100-percent of profits go directly back to the families.
“Sometimes when you're getting a gift of chocolates or Stroopies, you want something that's not as sweet to compliment a gift… That's another way by supporting the artisans that are displaying their works that they're making,” Groff says. “All of that goes back to the local artists, and the artisans… So many people helped us with our idea when we were launching it. So it's our little way of trying to give back to those who are doing amazing things in our community.”
As the business has grown, their team has expanded—and still the interest for employment remains high. With an estimated 80 women currently on the Stroopies employment waitlist, the Groffs are committed to continuing to grow their business sustainably, while also holding hope for all that’s possible through a social enterprise model, both for their business and other businesses that could be launched in Lancaster County.
“I just want to see even more of these ideas birthed [and] grown in the soil of our county,” Groff says. “It's a good place for these businesses to bloom.”
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